To The Island

Patricia Forde loves living in Galway, and here she retells the local myth of the appearance every seven years of Hy Brasil (nothing to do with Brazil: Hy means Island, and the name may come from the old Irish Ui Bresal) in Galway Bay.

Red haired Fia looked out of her window one night, and longed to see the island. She crept out of bed and went down to the quay, and, feeling a magical pull, walked on a moonbeam, hopping from star to star, and reached Hy Brasil. Magical creatures strode about, and she rode on the back of a gilded butterfly. All this is beautifully illustrated by Nicola Bernadelli. Fey boys and girls led Fia on a dance, and ‘a boy with eyes like summer puddles’ held her hand and took her into the sea. Red hair streaming, ‘she danced up to the clear night sky where wishes are pinned to stars, and stardust tickled her nose …’ She saw the town below, and again stepped on a moonbeam to return home. Looking back, she watched Hy Brasil as it ‘slowly, oh so slowly, slipped beneath the sea’. The reader may indeed wonder whether it was a dream, but there are tendrils of foliage on her pillow…

This book was commissioned as part of the Galway 2020 European City of Culture programme, and every child starting primary school in Galway in September 2020 has been given a copy. It has also inspired a song written by Galway musician Anna Mullarkey, but events have, of course, been curtailed. The language is lyrical and lovely and this will be good to read aloud and share.